Vista Linda Hotel Itatiaia National Park

... house!) its a weird contrast!

Anyway have spent the last few days exploring and well basically having a fantastic time!! For those of you who have been to Rio youŽll know what we mean when we say its a fantastic place - so many contrasts! And for those who havent been - well youŽll just have to wait for our slide show when we get back!!

First couple of days have been cloudy and wet but that hasnt bothered us too much as its ...

... number). We found that Rio is very expensive, so we didn't buy anything. In the evening we heard about the lighting of the Lagoon Christmas tree. An event similar to the switching on of the Oxford Street lights. The tree itself is 85 meters, pretty impressive, and looked like it was floating on the water.

We met up with some guys Phil met on his last trip to Rio, Rafa *pronounce Hafa* and Ze. Rafa came with his 2 year old daughter Rafa to the hotel. Whilst ...

... Around 15:30 we reached the next fazenda where we set up our camp. - There we met Sensa (shortening for Sensacional!), an amazing female dog which helped us to find Veados falls, a really impressive water fall, some 120m high. Amazing! - The land owners were cooking some food for us and around 19:00 we got some delicious home cooked tradiitonal food. - Around 21:00 we were all in bed.

... we got to Posses falls, a smaller water fall also very nice. - Around 17:00 we got to Fazenda Ribeirinha where we were supposed to camp for the night. As we could not find anyone there we just set up our tents in the main house's backyard. We were all wet and it was freezing cold! - We were all in bed around 19:00.

Dzisiaj poszlismy pozwiedzac Penedo. Miasteczko jest dosc male ale bardzo rozciagniete (kilka kilometrow). Zalozone bylo przez osadnikow z Finlandii i praktycznie cale centrum wyglada jak jakies finskie miasteczko. W kazdym hotelu jest sauna. I maja nawet domek Swietego Mikolaja :)

Dzisiaj po duzym sniadaniu w hotelu poszlismy na szlak zeby zobaczyc kilka wodospadow w okolicy Penedo i Alto Penedo. Wodospady nie byly zbyt duze ale droga byla fajna bo biegla przez las tropikalny- Mata Atlantica. Kiedys ten las zajmowal obszar wiekszy niz dzungla ...

T his would not be a place to which the people who lives in party every night usually attend, but we all deserve a place to relax, to forget the stress and worries of the big city. I suspect to talk, but this place for me is ...

Hopa, Na SJDR hebben we vooral veel k**weer gehad en Caxambu was een tegenvaller omdat de sauna, de enige reden waarom gelijk wie naar daar zou afzakken, gesloten was voor onderhoud. Geen getreur echter, onze blik was gericht op Rio! Alhoewel we in de verte het wilde feestgedruis al konden ruiken en de felle stadslichten van de Cidade Maravilhosa de besterde nacht gedeeltelijk bezoedelden, wilden we nog even een boom gaan knuffelen en een mammoet ...

Almost a day after we left Argentinian-Brazilian border from Iguazu, 16 hours on one bus and another 6 on the second bus and 2 police stops we finally made it to our destination in Paratay. A beautiful coastal town with warm water! Apparently! I never made it into the water, but thatŽs for later! On the first bus we drove to Sao Paolo, we stopped and changed buses for another 6 hour journey to Rio and Paratay. Thank god the ...

A small town south of Rio. Nice to visit, cobblestone streets closed to traffic lined with great shops with local arts and great bars and restaurants but the highlights are the boat daytrips to nearby stunning beaches and islands. At a restaurant I stayed back with the staff and listened to them play guitars, drums, tambourines and harmonicas to Brasilian music and blues...awesome...